Sintering Cr-containing PM steels is usually recommended to be carried out in nitrogen/hydrogen gaseous atmospheres in order to guarantee reduction of oxides and prevent further oxidation during processing. However, using low cost endothermic atmospheres as obtained from the reaction of natural gas and air deficient combinations, is industrially attractive. Such atmospheres may be inadequate due to a too high ratio of, either, CO_2/CO or H_2O/H_2. On the other hand, adequately controlled atmospheres with sufficiently low dew point may lead to strong neck development between particles during sintering. This work presents the results obtained after industrial processing at 1120°C of a set of test samples and components under "endogas" with a dew point around -20°C and controlled carbon potential. Test samples were prepared for tensile, charpy, hardness and microhardness testing. For comparison purposes additional sintering cycles were carried out under a N_2/H_2 atmosphere. Microstructures were characterised by SEM and optical microscopy.
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